Process of purifying cocoa.



LOUIS GREISER, OF BER-LIN, GERMANY.

PROCESS OF PURIFYING 0000A.

No Drawing.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 3, 1909. Serial No. 526,011.

Patented Oct. 3, 1911..

, enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

Processes for the purification of cocoa hitherto used, that is to sayfor removing nat ural' moisture and the volatile substances whlch, ifthey be allowed to remain in the cocoa, considerably affect its flavor,consisted in the cocoa beans being taken whole or broken to smallpieces, and in that state subjected to a roasting process with theadmission of fresh air.- During that roasting it was however possible toinsure uniform treatment of the single pieces of cocoa.

This invention relates to a process which produces a thoroughly uniformpurification, in which it is impossible that some portions of the cocoashould have properties differ ent from the rest, and the processmoreover guarantees a more thorough purifying action. According to thenew process finely ground cocoa mass, mixed with sugar if desired, isboiled in a closed vessel in a vacuum. The mass is heated to atemperature of from 70 to 80 (1., and at this temperature ebullitiontakes place and bubbles are formed, similar to the bubbles formed whenwater is boiled. This boiling expels the water and the volatileingredients from the mass without overheating'it. The said boiling iscontinued until the samples obtained show sufficient degree ofpurification. The duration of the boiling depends therefore on the kind,that is to say, on the quality of the cocoa, and on the previousroasting.

The raw beansmay be partially roasted before being treated by thisprocess, or the roasting step may be omitted altogether.

In the vessel the cocoa mass behaves like a boiling liquid, in which ofcourse the heat is distributed in a thoroughly uniform manner throughoutthe whole mass down to the smallest particles, so that the heatingaction is a more thorough one than is the case in the roasting processhitherto followed. Not only the moisture contained in the cocoa, butallvolatile substances of the raw bean, or of the partially roasted bean,which unfavorably aflect the flavor are removed, that is to say also thevolatile chemical admixtures which are used for opening up andfermenting or circulation, but which, unless completely removed, give abad taste to the cocoa after a certain length of keeping, are thoroughlyremoved down to the lasttraces. After the treatment in question, thecocoa mass is converted into chocolate or into cocoa .powder withoutoil. It is however advantageous, not only to boil the pure cocoa mass ina vacuum,'but also to treat the mass once more in the same way afteradding sugar to it. As, owing to the addition of sugar to the purifiedmass, more moisture is added to it, it is advantageous to remove thesaid moisture again in the manner described, this having a furtheradvantage that sugar enters into a more thorough connection with thecocoa mass, that is to sayis melted together with it.

What I claim is:

A process for purifying cocoa, which consists in first grinding thecocoa beans at atmospheric pressure to form a pulp, and subsequentlyheating the pulp in a vacuum an to a temperature at which ebullition taes place until the moisture and deleterious volatile ingredients havebeen expelled.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS GREISER. Witnesses:

WOLDEMAR HAUPT, HENRY HASPER.

